SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Vanessa Van Vleck loves running her vintage store Superbum Plant Company with her husband. What she doesn’t love, understandably, is the shop lifters that have been stealing from her plant and vintage store.

What You Need To Know

  • In California, commercial crime is at its highest since 2008

  • Los Angeles, San Francisco and the Central Valley are the highest hit areas in the state

  • In California, theft and shoplifting of any amount not exceeding $950 is considered a misdemeanor, not a felony
  • The select committee will hold hearings in LA and San Francisco

The vintage pieces in the store aren’t on consignment, she explained.

“When you steal something, you’re literally stealing something from me,” Van Vleck said. “It’s like going in my purse and stealing money or, like, we have a 6-year-old son, it’s like taking money from him.”

Her shop also is a place for local vendors to sell their crafts.

Van Vleck said authorities will listen to her when she reports a theft, but not much else.

“If you call them, they won’t come out, and there’s nothing that they can do,” she said.

In the hopes of deterring them, Van Vleck said she’s taken to publicly outing the thieves on social media and in her store on her wall of shame, after carefully reviewing camera footage of a theft.

The posts, she said, have received a lot of community support.

“People absolutely love the wall of shame,” Van Vleck said. “And then when they see our signs that say that we will humiliate you on social media as well, they absolutely love it. They go on to our feed right away and check it out.”

Van Vleck isn’t alone.

Statewide, commercial crime is at its highest since 2008, according to the state Legislature. The State Assembly created the Select Committee on Retail Theft, which met for the first time Tuesday to discuss and hear from concerned parties on the issue.

“I have a host of questions that need to be answered,” said Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur, D-Hollywood, the committee chair. “Some of them are, ‘How did we get to the organized crime rings? Is the problem one of defects in our laws? Or one of lack of reporting and enforcement?’”

One proposed reason for increased retail theft has been the change in what is considered a felony. In California, theft and shoplifting of any amount not exceeding $950 is considered a misdemeanor.

The committee heard from panels of experts, many talking on the topic.

“It’s not the length of the sentence that tends to have an impact on the likelihood of someone committing one of these crimes,” said Magnus Lofstrom, a public safety expert with the Public Policy Institute of California. “It’s the likelihood of being apprehended and facing consequences of that.”

Van Vleck hopes lawmakers will lower the dollar amount of retail theft for felony charges.

“That number is so high that every hit, if you come in here and take $100 from one of these makers, that could be their rent,” she said.

Van Vleck said until more is done, she’ll continue to post in the hopes thieves stay away.